Machine for pressing garments.



J. B. SPENCER. MACHINE FOR PRESSING GARMENTS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 3. 1917.

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MACHINE FOR PRESSING GARMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3,1917.

1 QMLQQQW Patented Jan. 14; 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ans n. srnnonn, or SYRACUSE, NEW YonK, ASSIGNOR 'ro UNITED 'srnrns HOFFMAN MACHINERY comrANY, or SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, A conrom'rron or DELAWARE.

MACHINE FOR PRESSING GARMENTS.

TEWLQQQ.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 14, 1919.

Application filed. July 3, 1917. Serial N01 178,421.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l[, JAMEs B. SPENCER, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Pressing Garments, of which the following, taken in connection with the drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in machines for pressing garments,

tit

and not only restores the nap, but also acceleratesthe drying so that the garment may be put on and worn with perfect safety directly from the pressing operation.

Tn machinesof this character, the upper pressing element or press head is movable toward and from a substantially horizontal lower pressing element, commonly termed the buck, about an aXis parallel with and some distance to the rear of said buck, and

is usually forced to its pressing position by means of a pedal lever and suitable connections between the pedal lever and rock arm upon which the head is mounted against the action of a counterweight or retracting spring, suitable provision being made for temporarily locking the ,head in its pressing position.

lit has been found, however, that in pressingcertain parts of garments, such as the lapels, pocket flaps, sleeve cufi's, trouser cuffs,

and the like, considerably greater pressure is required thanfor the body of the garment in order to meet the demand that those parts shall lie substantially as flat and smooth as the main body and that the folds of the collars andcufls of such garments shall maintain their shape for a longer period of time.

The pressure produced by the usual foot pedal connected in the manner described,

while suflicient for the main bodies of the garments, is not suflicient to meet the demands for pressing the special parts of the garment referred to, and the main object of'my present invention is to provide such a machine with simple means for bringing the pressing elements together with an increased force beyond that produced by the mechanically-operated means or foot lever, and at the same time permitting the machine to be used in the ordinary way for pressing the bodies of the garments.

@ther objects and uses relating to specific parts of the machine will be brought out'in the following description.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a garment pressing machine embodying the various features of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken on line 22, Fig. 1.

- As illustrated, this machine comprises a supporting base or frame -1 having a horizontal ledge -2 and a bracket -3, the latter extending upwardly from the rear portion of the frame forreceiving and supporting a rockarm 4.

A pair of upright cylinders 5 are mounted upon the front portion of the horizontal ledge -2 of the frame -l and are provided with laterally projecting flanges 6 for supporting a table, as 7--, a portion of which is shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

Movable in the upper ends of these cylinders are pistons 8 closed at the top and carrying at their upper ends a horizontal buck or lower pressing element 9 which is secured to the upper ends of the pistons 8 by clamping bolts -10 so as to cause the buck to move vertically with the pistons.

The outer sides of the upper ends of the cylinders and pistons are provided with laterally projecting lugs 1land 12 havin vertically registering apertures for receiving a pair of studs 13- which are preferably screwed into the lugs 12 and extend some distance below the lower faces of the lugs 1l--, the lower ends thereof being threaded and provided with nuts 1 l constituting adjustable stops coacting with the lugs -+1l for limiting the upward movement of the pistons 8- and buck --9 supported thereby. p

The rock arm -4- is fulcrumed, interaction-i therewith;

. upon th upper end of the bracket 3 so as to swing about fist-$9 1 v ifit lllt fii l the r f a lel-aa ithk he ibuek;o. and Games at 1ts front end a press head or upper pressing element -16- directly over said buck so as to swing into and out 'of pressing coforlocking those parts in such position, that shown 'being similar to the corresponding "construction as setforth in my Patent No.

1,164,516, dated December 14, 1915,in that it consistsof a forwardly and rearwardly extending pedal lever 17 of the first kind fulcrumed at 18 on the main supporting frame 1 and having its rear end connected by a'toggle 19- to an adjusting screw 4- on the rearwardly extending end of the rock arm 4-.

The front portion of the pedal lever 17 just back of the pedal is connected by a link 20 to one arm of a bell-crank lever 21 which is pivoted at 2Q. to a bracket 23 on the main supporting frame and has its other arm connected by alink 24 to one end of a-second toggle 25, the other end of the toggle 25-- being also connected to the adjusting screw 4' at the'same point, as 26, at which the toggle arm -19 is connected.

The flexing joint of the toggle 25 lies back of the similar flexing joint of the toggle l9 and forms a limiting stop for the latter when the press head is forced to its pressing position.

The lower arm of the toggle 25 extends across the corresponding arm of the toggle 19 and is pivoted thereto at 27 so that when the pedal end of the lever -17 is depressed against the action of a retracting spring 28, the flexing joints of the toggle levers 19 and 25 will be forced to the position indicated in Fig. 1, and thepress head will be positively forced to its pressing position,and when elevated by the retracting spring the flexing joints of the toggles 19- and -25 will be moved away from each other and the press head will be positively raised to its normal open position.

The toggles 19 and -25 are adjusted so that in raising and lowering the press head, theflexing joint of the toggle 19 Wlll be moved to opposite sides of a direct line between the points of connection of said toggle with the pedal lever -17- and ad-- justing screw 4 on the rear end of the rock arm 4.

That is, when the pedal end of the lever '17 is depressed to force the press head downwardly to its pressing position, the

flexing joint of the toggle -19 will be 25, thereby locking the press head in its pressing position under a certain maximum degree-of pressure of which the lever l7 and its connections with the rock arm -;l are capable of producing.

' A pedal release lever 29 is pivotally mounted upon the lower front portion of the main frame 1 with its rear end directly under the pedal lever so that when the front end of the release lever is depressed by the foot, its rear end will engage and raise the front end of the pedal lever, thereby causing the link 20 to rock the front end of the bell-crank lever 21 upwardly and its opposite end forwardly to exert a forwardly drawing force upon the pivotal connection 27 between the lower arms of the toggles 19 and 25, thereby moving the flexing joint of the toggle 19 forwardly to the right of the direct line to break the lock and allow the press head and pedal lever to be returned to their normal raised positions by the spring 28.

It is evident, however, that any other means for raising and lowering the press head and for locking it in its pressing position may be employed without departing from the spirit of my invention, which lies more particularly in the combination of any means for raising, lowering and locking the head with the fluid-pressure operated means, as the pistons 8, for forcing the buck 9 into further pressing engagement with the locked head 16 under a greater pressure than that which is capable of being produced by the operation of the pedal lever 17 and its connections with said head.

As illustrated, the buck 9 and press head l6 are provided with steam-heating chambers 30 and 31 to which steam is supplied from any available source through branch pipes 32 and -33, the water of condensation being drawn off from said chambers through branch pipes 34: and 35.

The purpose of supplying steam to these chambers is to keep the pressing elements in a heated condition while the machine is in operation, and also to aid in expediting the drying of the garments to which moisture has been applied from an external source, usually the same as that which supplies steam to said chambers.

This moisture is supplied to the garments under pressure by steam, and for this purpose I have provided the press head l6-- with a steam-distributing chamber 36 directly under the heating chamber 3land substantially coextensive with the area of the pressing surface of the head.

The chamber 36 conununicates with the source of supply through the chamber mamas --3l and ports --3'l'-," ,which latter are controlled by amormally closed valve -38 adapted to be opened at will for an instant by means of a hand lever 38 to admit a blast of steam to the chamber. 36.

From this chamber steam is admitted to the garment through a perforated press plate 39 forming the bottom of the chamber -36 and press head 16.

The lower face of the perforated plate -39 may be covered by a steam-pervious pad 40-, shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, to distribute the steam more evenly over and upon the garment under pressure.

The buck 9 is provided with a suction chamber 41 overlying the heating chamber 30- and covered by a perforated plate 4:2, said chamber 4t1 and plate -12- being substantially coextensive with the pressing area of the buck and oorre-' sponds in form and area to that of the press head.

The suction chamber .-4:1- is connected to a suction pipe .4:3- which, in turn, is connected to a suction device l4 similar to that set forth in my pending application, Serial No. 34,130, filed July 15, 1915,'-in that it consists of a steam ejector to which steam is supplied through a pipe a5 connected to the same source of supply as the pipe -32 leading to the heating cham ber -30- and provided with a self-closing valve a6- adapted to be opened at will by a pedal lever 47- through the medium of a valve rod -4:8 connected thereto.

The suction device 44 is provided with a discharge pipe 49 leading to a waste pipe -50- or other place of delivery outside of the building if desired.

The function of this suction device is to withdraw steam and moisture from the garment while under pressure so as to prevent the escape of such steam into the room in which the machine is located, and also to accelerate the drying and cooling of the garment, which, in turn, materially aids in' setting the shape of the garment to the form in which it is pressed.

The. pistons --8 are preferably 'operated by steam pressure from the same source of supply as that which furnishes the steam to the heating chambers of the pressing elements, and for this purpose the lower ends of the cylinders are connected by branch pipes 51- to a valve -52-- to which is connected a steam supply pipe --53 and an exhaust pipe -54, the pipe -5? being connected to the same source of supply as the pipe 32, while the exhaust pipe -54- may be connected to the drainage pipe 50, or to any other place of delivery of the exhaust steam or Water of condensation.

The valve -52- is provided with an operating'handle -55 and is constructed thereon are permitted to assume their normal positions with the heads of the pistons resting upon the upper ends of the cylinders which constitutes a rigid support for the buck.

The garment to be pressed is then spread out upon the buck in the usual manner and then the head isbrought down either by hand or, preferably, by means of the foot lever 17-, whereby the garmentwill be subjected to the maximum pressure capable of being produced by the foot lever, but if the lapels, pocket flaps, sleeve or trouser cufl's are interposed between the pressing elements, considerably greater pressure would be required to properly shape those parts, and under those conditions the excess pressure may be readily supplied while the press head is locked in its pressing position by the toggle l9 by simply opening the valve 52- to admit steam to both cylinders through their respective branches -"l--,'thereby forcing the buck-with the garment thereon upwardly against the under side of the press head with considerably greater force than could be produced by the pedal lever.

It is only necessary to open the valve -52 for an instant, just sufiicient to give the garment the extra pressure while still softened by the blast of steam previously admitted thereto, whereupon the valve may bereturned to its "normal position to open the exhaust and allow the pistons to return.

' Simultaneously with or immediately fol-- lowing this operation of the buck by the pistons, the valve -4r6' maybe opened by depressing the pedal end of the lever 47 to operate the section device 44 for withdrawing the steam from between the pressing elements so that the head may be instant y the assurance that the latter will be substantially dried and that no appreciable amount of moist vapor will be liberated in the room in which the machine is located.

lln operating the pistons by steam I am permitted to supply the cylinders with such steam from the same source as that used for heating the pressingelements and moistening the garment, thereby reducing the operatmg parts of the machine to a minimum and permitting all of said parts to be inraised to release the garment .With.

llltl corpo'rated in one and the same machine as a unitary article of manufacture, although it is evident that other fluid under pressure may be used as the operating means for said 7 pistons if desired without departing from the spirit of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a garment-pressing machine, the combination of a buck and a press-head, each movable independently of and toward and from the other, means for forcing the press-head toward the buck with a certain maximum pressure including a device for automatically locking the press-head under said pressure, and separate means .for forcing the buck toward the press-head with a greater pressure than that of the press-head while the latter is locked.

2. In a garment pressing machine, the combination of a buck and a press-head,

each movable independently of. and toward and from the other, means normally supporting the buck in a certain plane for resisting pressure of the press-head, means for forcing the press-headinto pressing coaction .each movable independently of and toward and from the other, means normally supporting the buck in a certain plane for resisting pressure of the press-head, means for,

forcing the press-head into pressing coaction with the buck while the latter is in said plane, including a device for locking the press-head in its pressing position, and fluidpressure operated means for forcing the buck slightly beyond said plane while the press-head is locked.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this th day of June, 1917.

JAMES B. SPENCER.

Witnesses:

ERNEsT G. BERGER, ALICE M. CANNON. 

